Crystal Ball
by Cake-san
Summary: Wizard asked Molly to help him find his crystal ball. When she suspects Jake is using it, she takes matters into her own hands. Big mistake. WizardxMolly


**Author's Note:**** If you are reading this, then the world has ended. Do you know what this means? Do you?! …It means I'm writing fan fiction. This is not a good thing, people, not a good thing. I wrote fan fiction… many, many years ago… And it was bad. Terrible, really. And I know I disappointed those two or three people that actually read it when I stopped and just deleted everything. I'm going to try and stick to one shots, if anything, because the point of all of this is that I'm trying to get better at writing. I have tons of ideas in my head that I want to write down but, for many of them, I don't know how. And then I started playing Harvest Moon Animal Parade again. And MORE ideas bombarded me—begging to be written down. Here's one of them:**

"…_I have… something to ask…"_

"_Okay, what is it?"_

_He took a breath to begin._

She took a deep breath. _If I'm wrong… I'll have a lot of explaining to do… Like why I'm breaking into the inn after it's closed._ She thought, pulling a hairpin from her hair and sliding it into the lock.

"Be careful, Molly! If you make any noise, someone could hear and you'd get in trouble!" Finn said frantically. He didn't have to be quiet because no one else could hear _him_.

"Then why don't you keep watch for me while I do this?" She whispered, getting down on her knees to get a better view of the lock. "Peek in the windows or something."

He did so and for a few moments he was silent while Molly concentrated on finding the lock mechanism.

"Hey, so… how did you learn to do stuff like this?"

She smirked and shrugged. "I'll never tell."

Wings drooping slightly, Finn resumed his window watching.

There was a soft click and a satisfied smile settled on my face as I stuck the pin in my pocket and opened the door. "Are you ready?" Molly mouthed.

The lobby of the inn was dim with only a couple of lights on the lowest setting and there was no one in sight. There was the sound of running water through the pipes in the ceiling but, other than that, nothing.

_Now we need to find Jake. I know that the rooms to the left are where the staff sleeps, but I doubt Jake would use the crystal ball where people could see him. That leaves a vacant hotel room, I guess. Or a bathroom. I… hope it's the first one._

The first room belonged to Calvin, and it was also where the running water originated. _Guess he's taking a shower or something._ Molly decided to start on the other end.

The first door she opened led to Jake. He was standing with his back to the door—and Molly as well—swaying, looking drunk. _Drunk with the power of the crystal ball, I presume._

There was a dark, cloud-like aura swirling about him as he spoke and the crystal ball looked murky. "Yes. I can see everyone… I can see everyone's mind!"

"Yikes!" Finn exclaimed and flew to hide behind her. "Molly, it really is the crystal ball!"

Molly's heart rate increased instantly and she felt cold. Her eyes widened in fear at the sight before her. This was no longer the kind and hospitable hotel owner. _Why did I do this? I could have just gone to Wizard, said 'Hey, so I think Jake's got your crystal ball. You're welcome!' But nooooooo! I just _had_ to check it out for myself! Now I'm in a room alone with a guy who's gone crazy! There's no telling what he'll do! I'll just take little steps out of here before he sees me and go tell Wizard what's going on before I get brutally murdered and dumped in an alley somewhere! Hm… now that I'm thinking about it… Do they have many dark alleys here? Really, the only place I could think of is the walkway to the Watery Cave… _Why_ am I thinking about where Jake will dump my corpse after he kills me?!_

She began taking small steps backward. _I can't handle this. Looking for a round magical ball is fine. Attempting to get it back from the person who found it is a whole other story. I can't—_Molly gasped and jumped backwards as the aura began to stretch towards her. Her back hit the door and it slammed loudly into the wall. There was probably a mark where the knob gouged the wallpapered dry wall.

"Molly! Are you okay?" Finn gasped.

Jake whipped around, fury etched into his face. "Molly! What are you doing here?!"

The blood was pounding in Molly's ears and her hands began to sweat but she somehow managed to answer, quivering voice aside. "Jake, I… I need you to give me that crystal ball. It doesn't belong to you."

If possible, he grew even more enraged. "Give this to you?! No way! I found it! It's mine!"

Despite her fear, Molly listened to him speak and frowned. It sounded as though there were some other voice speaking through him. A voice that was almost… otherworldly. She gulped and took a moment to focus on his eyes. The normally warm green was now pale and glazed over. Terror seized her again. _It's like he's being possessed!_

Molly continued backing away from him until she realized that the small of her back was pressed awkwardly against the doorknob. _I don't think there's anywhere else to go! I could try to run out of here but there's no way he'd just let me walk out of the hotel! _

Finn was hovering near her shoulder but she doubted he could help in this situation. _…Okay. Okay. Calm down. Think. _

She focused on not allowing her voice to waver as she spoke. "Jake… What you're doing with that crystal ball is—"

"I knew I felt my crystal ball close by…" A familiar voice said. And suddenly Wizard was in the room with them. Had he come in through the door?

"Wizard!" Molly, Finn, and Jake all shouted. Though, Jake's was one of agitation, Finn's was more of a worried squeak, and Molly's was in utter relief. _He's here! Thank the King, Wizard is here! I'm sure he can handle this!_

"You're here to steal this from me!" Jake continued, "I can see it in your thoughts! I won't give this back, even if it is yours!" He turned and hunched protectively over it. "It's… my precious."

Icy fear began to trickle back into Molly and she shivered, putting her arms around herself. _The more I see of this, the more I can't believe that it's Jake._

A memory from earlier in the day popped into her head. A memory of a man who just wanted to please his beloved. _'My wife says I've been acting strange? Hm… But I've just tried to give her everything she wants as soon as she thinks of it. Ha ha ha, it's easy now that I can read her mind!'_

"Fine…" Molly stared at Wizard as a hint of sadness crept onto his normally placid face. "If you think you are the one who deserves it most."

Those words of resignation, rather than any attempt of Molly's at being rational, seemed to break through the darkness around Jake. As he faced them, the aura vanished and the crystal ball was once again clear. There was a guilty look on his face and there was a long pause before he spoke. "Wizard… I can feel… your thoughts… I can feel… how important… this is to you. You are the crystal ball's true owner."

Wizard accepted it and put it in one of the many pockets within his robe. Molly watched as the hotel owner did a complete one-eighty. _What did he see in Wizard's mind that would make him change so much?_

"I'm so sorry," Jake continued, apology dripping from every word, "That thing took a strange hold on me. At first I just wanted to use it to make Colleen happy. But then I wanted to read everyone's mind! I couldn't pull myself away. But I saw when I read your mind that you… could handle its power. You're the only one who should have that thing. And I'm truly sorry for the trouble I've caused you. You too, Molly—I'm sorry for frightening you. I don't want to know what would have happened if Wizard hadn't shown up, but I'm ashamed to think that I might have hurt you."

Molly was so startled by the turn of events that all she could really do was nod and walk after Wizard when he pulled her out of the room. "Have a good night… Jake." He said at the doorway.

They continued on in silence, Molly being pulled even after she stopped needing to be. It only ceased when Wizard sat her down on his staircase at his house and began to prepare some tea.

Molly blinked and realized that she didn't really remember the journey from the Ocarina Inn to here.

"So Wizard—" Molly said, starting to stand.

"Please. Sit back down." Wizard interrupted, suddenly in front of her, pushing her back to the steps. "You could be in shock right now and I want you to be still for a while and get something into your system to calm you down."

"Uh, okay." Molly grasped the tea he put into her hands and took a sip. It brought a familiar, soothing feeling. She was startled to see that Finn was sitting on Wizard's table, having a cup of tea as well.

"You can see Finn?" She blurted.

"Of course," He said, standing at the far end of the table, across from the harvest sprite, "He is a creature born of magic. Magic is my practice and I have had a very long time to perfect it."

"Ah." Molly felt a bit silly. She probably should have known that.

After a short moment of silence, Wizard spoke up. "What… was it you were going to say? Before?"

"The crystal ball… It was so important to you that it got through to Jake that you were its rightful owner. Is there a story behind it," She asked curiously, "Or is it just really hard to get crystal balls around here?" She finished, moving softly to the table next to Finn.

Wizard stared at her for a long moment over his steaming mug before speaking. "This crystal ball was handed down to me by my master and so, yes, it is… dear to me. But… that wasn't what repaired Jake's mental state. It was… something else in my thoughts that caught his attention."

Molly raised her eyebrows. "Really? It sounded to me like the crystal ball was what he was talking about. What were you thinking about that was more important to you than that?"

Wizard turned his head slightly and, it could have just been the light, but Molly thoughts she saw a rosy tint to his chocolate milk skin. She watched him intently, waiting for a sign that he would answer the question.

A light snore broke her concentration, though, and Molly burst into quiet giggles when she glanced down at Finn, lying on the table next to his empty tea cup, sleeping.

Wizard appeared unfazed, so deep he was in his thoughts, searching for a way to respond. Finally, he spoke. "It was—I saw that you were… frightened. Rightly so. It was your safety that I was concerned for. The… importance… of that to me was what stopped Jake."

Molly felt a rising blush and growing warmth in her chest. "Oh. I… I see. Well, I… That wasn't… what I expected. Um… Thank you. I probably should have said this earlier. But thank you for coming. After I saw Jake, all I could really think about was how much danger I was in and how I should have gone to you first. I was so relieved when you came. And, so, to repay you…" She began, standing from her seat.

"You have no need to repay me for anything. You helped me retrieve my crystal ball, which was what I requested of you in the first place." He protested.

"But still," Molly insisted, walking around the corner of the table to where he was. She raised her hand to put it delicately on Wizard's shoulder and, before he could move away, she kissed him.

"Thank you, for saving my life." She whispered.

**Author's Note (again):**** Also, I don't own Harvest Moon, or any of the characters or places in this story. I don't own this plot: I stole that from them, too. I hope you enjoyed what I did with this. If not, tell me.**

**Any kind of feedback is welcome. Again, the point of this is to improve my writing, so if you tell me about anything sucky, I can get better. **

**Thank you,**

**Cake-san**


End file.
